Institutional Trauma: A Critical Psychological Perspective on Power, Violence, and Harm

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Lucy Thompson

Institutional Trauma

A Critical Psychological Perspective on Power, Violence, and Harm

Lucy Thompson

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Paperback

Forthcoming
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English

Routledge
07 November 2025

Feminism & feminist theory; Social, group or collective psychology; Occupational & industrial psychology; Organisational theory & behaviour; Psychotherapy

Series: Concepts for Critical Psychology

This book develops a critical psychological account of trauma as an institutional phenomenon, which is currently missing in psychological discourse.

While a great deal of attention has been paid to understanding trauma in individualized terms, comparatively little attention has been paid to understanding trauma as a feature of institutions. Based on the observation that experiences of trauma are deeply lodged in institutional conditions, this book asks what comes into view when psychological trauma is approached as an institutional phenomenon. Recognizing that the personal is political, this book proposes an expanded institutional analytic of trauma and lays critical foundations for responses that treat institutions as sites of trauma and its management. Drawing on a range of disciplines including critical psychology, feminist theory, postcolonial studies, and critical trauma studies, this expanded institutional analytic advocates for institutional transformation within and beyond the confines of dominant psychological knowledge(s) and practice.

Institutional Trauma is fascinating reading for academics, students, practitioners, and anybody interested in understanding institutional power, violence, and harm.

By: Lucy Thompson
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 138mm,
Weight: 453g
ISBN: 9780367487249
ISBN 10: 0367487241
Series: Concepts for Critical Psychology
Pages: 148
Publication Date: 07 November 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Series Preface Acknowledgements Chapter 1: Introducing Trauma Chapter 2: Genealogies of Trauma Chapter 3: Trauma Capitalism Chapter 4: Institutions Chapter 5: Institutional Trauma Chapter 6: (De)theorizing and (Re)imagining Institutional Trauma Chapter 7: Into Trauma’s Negative Space

Lucy Thompson is a critical feminist psychologist who studies institutional power relations and their impacts from the perspective that the personal is political. From this perspective, she specializes in feminist analyses of institutions, violence, and psychological distress. Her research has made methodological, empirical, and conceptual contributions in these areas. Specifically, she has published an analytical framework, Feminist Relational Discourse Analysis, which allows critical examinations of the personal-political dimensions of experience. She has also studied institutional phenomena such as imposter syndrome and workplace violence from this perspective. Her conceptual work in the domain of institutional trauma reflects her commitment to understanding experiences of psychological distress as institutionally bound.